As of March 14 I have been a Peace Corps Volunteer for 3 months, which is exciting because now I can officially leave the country! Which is pretty neato except I lack the time and the money to go anywhere, but the idea is pretty cool nonetheless. After being in Samoa for a total of 5 months the last 2 weeks have surprisingly provided a lot of 'firsts' for me. Last Saturday and Wednesday I went kayaking for the first time at Salani surf camp about a fifteen minute bike ride from my village. It was soooo beautiful. Their kayaks are open tops and I went out and played in the ocean for a little bit where you have a gorgeous view of the mountains on land and the water is crystal clear and there are tons of beautiful coral all around. While I was kayaking I saw a reef shark for the first time which was really sweet. They are fairly small and I was so excited to see one that I actually tried to follow it. I also saw a stingray try to do an impression of a dolphin by jumping out of the water about 10 feet in front of me and flapping around attempting (or so it seemed to me) to be beautiful and graceful and then proceeded to crash into the water in an awkward belly flop. That was also a first and fairly comical as well.
I had my first Mormon missionary invasion…I mean discussion with two white guys from the states who are stationed here. They came to my house last week to talk to me about the Mormon religion for 3 hours…you got that right? 3 hours? Yeah, so that was…interesting.
I also experienced my first St. Patrick’s day in Samoa…if you would like details you should probably ask someone else.
I was also pooped on by a baby for the first time which was rather exciting. I went to visit my Samoan family last week and little Sally, who is about 1 year old, came running up to me with her hands up yelling “Lola, Lola, Lola!” And being in a good kid-loving mood, I scooped her up and put her on my hip and was dancing around and playing with her when all of the sudden I smelled something a bit…foul. So I put her down and realized that A) she didn’t have a diaper on and B) there were now brown stains all over the shirt I was wearing where Sally’s bottom had previously been. This might sound disturbing to some of you at home, but the part that I found most disturbing was that I actually debated if I wanted to go home and change or not. The thought, “its not that bad I guess” actually crossed through my mind before I caught myself and said “self your covered in baby $h*t you need to go home and change.” So that was fun…
At any rate, besides mormons and poop things are going quiet nicely. I am still coaching the soccer team at our school, although I think I am just in charge of the girls now which is interesting. Im excited that they are actually letting the girls play since you don’t really see girls playing much sport here, but you can def tell that that is the case with our soccer team. One girl just runs after the ball and kicks her legs out like a weed whacker and when someone is in front of her she continues with this performance and just plows through people not only knocking them over, but actually running over them as well. Its quiet impressive. Her lack of body control kind of reminds me of….well me at that age (anyone who saw me try to play basketball at the age of 10 would know that I found it physically impossible to stay on 2 feet for more than 5 minutes at a time, true story).
Well, Im off to be important...to someone...somewhere...aka sit in the office and enjoy air conditioning. Hope all is well. Kisses and coconuts.